Rejection of N.J. court pick seen as sharp signal to Christie

Governor Chris Christie is accusing Democrats in the New Jersey Senate of playing partisan politics by rejecting Supreme Court nominee Bruce Harris.

After two years of going along with many of Christie’s proposal, Democrats are now putting up some resistance, says one political observer.

Monmouth University political analyst Patrick Murray says the Harris rejection Thursday is a big push against Christie.

“It’s a huge push-back not just on reshaping the court but on the sense that Governor Christie is trying to take over every branch of government, the legislative as well as the judicial,” Murray said. “The governor feels that he can move things through the Legislature quite quickly, and the Democrats in the Legislature have finally said ‘We’re not going to let you have everything that you want.'”

Murray says the vote against Harris and the rejection of Supreme Court nominee Phil Kwon in March may force Christie to rethink how he makes judicial selections.

Murray says Christie may have to look at existing judges who already have a record on the bench.